He refuses to have anything to do with it. I have been trying since March or April to take him down to tour. He even had an ARD meeting there in April and refused to go with me.

I think I am a fail at what I teach at home. My son says he is not interested in science at all. He acts like he is being tortured when he has to do it. BUT, he loves, really loves, every topic he has had outsourced. Next year, he is continuing his world history and lit class, part two. I really like the person who teaches it. She does a great job and is engaging. I cannot afford to outsource her class and another one. There is this other person who teaches science. She has both physical science and chemistry this fall. I can only afford her if I drop the person who has been teaching history to my child for years. I would feel awful if I dropped her. She is a wonderful teacher. And frankly, I do not know anyone else who home schools other than those people, the ones in that class. They are my "support group" so to speak. But they are not a support group. We all do talk a lot though, more during the year than any other time. I would feel very guilty if I dropped her class. This science class, I think it looks good. It is from an experienced person who has done it for years. She keeps a full enrollment. I feel like if I switch to her and she is actually good, it might change my son's mind about liking science. I cannot afford both. I am so stuck. I do not know what to do! I feel like they do not listen to me much at home. The two boys fight constantly at home so every single thing we do is unpleasant. They do not listen to me. I feel frustrated because I thought home schooling would be all about the extra chances they get, and instead, it feels more like it is about begging and pleading all day long. I should add that 14 yr old has ASD. 14 and 12 yr old fight so much, and are so ignited against each other, it seems to kill any joy we have.

I will say though, on my grandpa's side, the one my grandma thought she was better than, within a few generations, were Knights, and even, a little further back, a few kings and some other such royalty. I also run in to dead ends on the Irish branch. But, I do not have any memberships right now. I just take what is free when it is there. We did do the DNA testing though.

I was at a restaurant on Thursday night. The waitress accidentally spilled a big thing of water on me. I do not recall if my iPhone was in my pocket or not. But, on Friday and Saturday, the iPhone seemed fine. Saturday evening, went to an outdoor party, no drinking or anything. It was very humid out. When I went home I checked my phone and it suddenly had streaking across it. It looked like water damage. I took it to the Apple store on Sunday (today) and they said the water damage sensor has been triggered. I mentioned the humidity, they said they did not think humidity could have done this. My husband was with me and attached to his phone and his phone was fine. I did take my phone out a few times to take pictures at the party, but did not surf the web. My husband was often checking the internet at the party. What do you think? Do you think it happened when the waitress spilled water on me and just did not show up for 48 hrs? If so, would you call the restaurant? I have a warranty, but it is costing me $99 to replace. Or should I assume it was the humidity? Or should I assume I just cannot know, at all?

What is odd is, my grandma has always had this attitude like she is so refined and great. I thought she was great, but after Grandpa's death, I started to see the cracks in her. I am trying to find the best way to word this. She started showing a side of her that was not so great. And then she would openly make remarks about being too good for Grandpa and she never would have married him if it had not been for the war. And how any problems any of us have, including her own kids or grandchildren have must have come from Grandpa, not her side. She thought her grandmother was a music teacher and came from a wealthy family. And so on, other similar stories I heard. BUT, not only have I had a hard time tracing her side, but, it looks like her grandma was working as a servant girl at only 13 yrs old. And then did not get married until close to 30 years old and was listed as a "spinster" in the marriage record and her dad was a coachman and there was no sign of a mother. I do not think someone who was a servant girl at 13 yrs old was likely some well-to-do well educated music teacher. That was the late 1800's. On the Danish side, just forget the research. I cannot find anything.

I am not sure we have a rape culture so much as we call so much more rape. It might be interesting to have some statistics, if anyone ever did the research, in to how many rape reports today would not have been considered rape a few years ago. I think we definitely have a victim culture today. Yes, I acknowledge that some people are raped. But I also think today, we have a big victim mentality. Everyone is a victim, no one is responsible. This is not just referencing rape. This is referencing everything right down to a lecture at a college where students claim they were victimized because it made them feel bad.

They do not put in dress codes to rid of temptation from boys. They put dress codes because kids (and their parents) seem to forget this is a school, not a beach. And there is a reasonable standard for how people should dress at school. When I was in school, growing up, kids could not even wear shorts to school.

my post went in the wrong place, sorry.

We are working through Science Shepherd Biology. But the chemistry is so heavy that I am thinking we should have done chemistry first. I hate to table the biology for a year, we already started, but maybe I should? Sigh, what should I do next? I have RS4Kids high school chemistry, but I think I read this is not truly high school level. Is it? Or not?

I haven't actually been hard on the car. The gash happened from something flying off another car. Then when the police ran the plates, it was a stolen license plate. We had pictures of the car and the car did not match the plates. The a/c thing was recalled, I can see it on Toyota's website, it is the dashboard. The dashboard and components have been recalled for cracking. It is the slat things, they have simply fallen a part. I do agree though. I need to just put away the money each month for a while and replace it when I need to. For the record, the payments for the EX were going to be about $455 a month.

20+ years ago, if you got drunk and slept with someone you would not have slept with sober, you know you were dumb, you are mad at yourself, and grossed out and upset. And you would regret that you got that drunk. Today, it is on the weight of the other person to determine if you are sober enough to consent and if you will regret it later. I mean, I could have sex with my husband while drunk. Then, later, press rape charges against him and even though I said yes at the time, it is still rape because I was drunk. (if someone drugged someone to get render them incapable of saying no, that is a different story of course). Today, if a sober woman has sex with a drunk man, he got lucky. If a drunk man has sex with a drunk woman, even though they both did the action (not referencing when one is incapacitated) then HE is guilty of rape, even if she consented. If a man has sex with a woman and the woman says yes, but didn't really want to do it, then that is rape. If a man has sex with a woman, and says no, but she keeps coming on to him until they end up having sex anyway, that is considered fine. I do not like the double standard and I do not like the loose definition of rape. Recently, on FB, there were posts about two female teachers being charged with rape and everyone was saying how lucky the teen boy was and how they would be happy to take his place. I was the only one to step in and say it is rape. The boy was under their control because he was their student and underaged. It is not ok. If I get drunk and drive and kill someone, it is supposed to be my fault. There is no "well, she was not capable of consenting to driving so it is not her fault." Ok, court records will show you that they are way way too easy on drunk drivers, but the law claims they are not. I can guarantee that if I get drunk and give away a bunch of money or go on a spending spree, I will not have a legal case to get my money back just because I was drunk. To me, despite recent changes in the laws, rape is when one party did not consent. It is not when one party consented but later decided they were too drunk to consent or even just "felt coerced." I do not think it should be the responsibility of the other party to determine if the female specifically is too drunk and might regret it. Of course, the exception would be if she is passed out or if she had been drugged to render her unable to refuse, as in a rape drug. Our laws and the messages we send to the next generation need to get more consistent. People need to take personal responsibility. Anyone who is capable of consenting to get drunk should be capable of then being responsible for their resulting actions. (this is in no way a reference to the Stanford incident).

Ha ha ha ha!!!

I am waiting for an update too. She should not be allowed to host any group events in her house if she is unwilling to have everyone. She can have her own private social life, but not group events like that that go through the group.

I way way prefer a patio. If I moved in to a house with a low deck, I would likely have it ripped up and replaced with a patio. The decks rot. And things can slip between the slats. If anything, the decks are buggier.

The baby is in an Evenflo Triumph. I also own a Radian, which is in a different car. The 4 yr old is small for her age so she will be harnessed for a long time more. She is in an Evenflo forward facing cheapie. Ironically, she can still go rear facing in the Triumph. I forgot her car seat one day and was able to just put her in her little brother's seat. The 6 yr old is in a high back booster, I think also Evenflo brand. It is just a coincidence that everything is mostly Evenflo right now. I am not stuck to that brand.

150,000

I don't see any other car that would work. SUVs cost more. We don't want to deal with Toyota again.

OK..I am struggling here. And I need help. I had a dream last night that it was Christmas and I was struggling to pay for Christmas presents. Ugh. So..I want to list what is going on with my current car and you can all tell me if you would trade it in. It is not about new vs used on the next car. It is about whether you would feel the need to replace. -timing belt gasket resealing ($2300) -tune up (maintenance) -transmission flush (maintenance) -spare tire erosion (has been recalled but they did not change the design so it keeps happening despite having done the repairs) -nick in the windshield -gash in the passenger side door -dashboard issues including the vent breaking (looks like it is under a recall, but Totora says this doesn't count) -spedometer and odometer are wrong It is a 2010 Toyota Sienna so you can Google it to see all the recalls. The new car would be the Honda Odyssey EX 2016. Problem with that already is cannot figure out how to install the car seats. The middle row, middle seat is too narrow and I need to have the outboard seat not taken so kids can get in the back. I have 2 small children who are still in the 5 point belt system so I still need to strap them in. And the one in the HBB still needs some help.

I feel bad as they gave us the price we wanted now, we dealt with them via text only, and the color we wanted, the model we wanted, on a vehicle to be delivered next week, and I don't want it anymore. It is because we tried the car seats in the Odyssey and could not figure out a configuration that works. Otherwise, we would go for it.

My husband had a friend from middle school who had an affair with a teacher. He was murdered. The teacher and her husband got off scott free and are still teaching in Texas public school. You can Google Cadenhead and San Antonio for the story on that. It is so sad. I have met his parents and they are the sweetest kindest people.

I have a family member who is a teacher. She is one of the dumbest people I know. She is an advertisement for home schooling. Literally, she was fired from her first few districts and then was tenured so no one could fire her. They still force transfer her from place to place. I know she uses drugs. Doesn't matter. Public schools only drug test students, not the teachers. Her degree came from a very easy school that probably would be 10th tier if there were such a thing. She actually went back to get her masters degree. All her classes were online. She told me she got 25% of her grade for attendance (online!) and 50% for participation (online). It was a message board format and as long as she posted once a week, she got that credit. Same university. She is so dumb, she says kids should not have to study math, it is a waste of time. She never allowed her own kids to be given books for gifts and was very open with her opinion that books are not fun so she does not want them given books. Both her kids have been kicked out of public school while she made excuses for it. Her child who just finished 10th grade has been kicked out of 3 high schools so far. She is in some sort of drug recovery rehab high school now where she mostly works from home and shows up for meetings. She makes excuses for them and goes on and on about how "at least my kids are popular." Who are they popular with? Duh! Her daughter is all over social media and has even bragged about giving out sex for drugs.

I already got rid of the Lincoln Logs. We have k'nex so I figure I should rid of the tinker toys. I think I should perhaps rid of the blocks as we have Legos everywhere.

When you say 1500 square feet, is there also a basement? Or is that 1500 total?

I am very sorry for what happened to you!!!

Yes, but can you pop up the outboard seat to get in the back after you put that seat in the middle?